Blarney Pilgrims Irish Music Podcast - Episode 52: Ken Fleming Interview (Banjo, accordion, guitar and singing)

Episode 52: Ken Fleming Interview (Banjo, accordion, guitar and singing)

06/02/20 • 94 min

Accordion tunes in the 90 degree heat. On the '80s Cowboys and Irish music in Dallas, Texas. On De Danaan kicking up a dust storm; the Charlie Piggott route to falling in love with the banjo and struggles in learning to play. The O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat and the sweetness of playing music with your kids.

Ken Fleming's such an easy going guy, but when you hear his story you'll realize he's driven. I mean, you can't get an Irish music festival up and running in Texas without some amazing combination of vision, commitment and a willingness to take a punt. It's probably not an exaggeration to say that without Ken's work over the past forty years, the Irish music scene there would be a shadow of what it's now become (thriving).

So - here's The North Texas Irish Festival, of which Ken was a key founder:
https://ntif.org/

And you can find The O'Flaherty Irish Music retreat here:
https://oflahertyretreat.org/

Check out their list of past guest musicians and you'll get an idea of the calibre of the weekend:
https://oflahertyretreat.org/instructor_role/core-classes/

Thank you, Ken, for hacking through the long distance digital thickets with us to get this episode up and out. And thanks for your tunes and your chat.

As always the episode is free to stream or download from all the usual spots:
Our Website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/52
iTunes: https://apple.co/2XsbLo0
Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3aFuOPa

So - this is our 52nd episode. We launched last year at the National Celtic Festival and it was awesome. Thanks to Una McAlinden for that amazing kick start to the project. We got to hang out with...

Mary MacNamara and Eileen O'Brien
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/4
Maggie Carty
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/5
Beth McCracken
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/8
Austral
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7
and
Bush Gothic
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/10

Not bad for a first weekend...

Now, Covid-19 notwithstanding, The Celtic Festival will be hosting a series of events online this year to mark the moment and take a breath before we start the journey towards next year's festival. Look for them here:

https://www.facebook.com/nationalcelticfestival

And finally, thanks to you all for supporting us to get this far. Keep it up and hopefully we'll have another year's worth of great chat and tunes by this time next year.

Love,

Darren and Dom

We know it's a tough time so we hope you can hang in there with us. If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

So - here's The North Texas Irish Festival, of which Ken was a key founder:
https://ntif.org/

And you can find The O'Flaherty Irish Music retreat here:
https://oflahertyretreat.org/

Check out their list of past guest musicians and you'll get an idea of the calibre of the weekend:
https://oflahertyretreat.org/instructor_role/core-classes/

Thank you, Ken, for hacking through the long distance digital thickets with us to get this episode up and out. And thanks for your tunes and your chat.

So - this is our 52nd episode. We launched last year at the National Celtic Festival and it was awesome. Thanks to Una McAlinden for that amazing kick start to the project. We got to hang out with...

Not bad for a first weekend...

https://www.facebook.com/nationalcelticfestival

And finally, thanks to you all for supporting us to get this far. Keep it up and hopefully we'll have another year's worth of great chat and tunes by this time next year.

Love,

Darren and Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

Previous Episode

Episode 51: Caity Brennan Interview (Fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

On growing up with traditional Irish music, on taking ownership, on finding festivals, on 92.7 Fresh Fm, on Austral and creating a dance party, and losing yourself at Woodford Folk Festival .

Way, way back in June last year we caught up with Austral during the National Celtic Festival. During that interview we said we'd love to sit down and chat with Caity Brennan. Well, 12 months and one global pandemic later, we've finally done it and it's everything we'd hoped it would be.

In this episode Caity plays:
Roll Out The Barrel / Christmas Eve / Castle Kelly
The Orphan / Princess Nancy
Dr. Gilbert's / Siobhan O'Donnell's
The Sheiling Song
Original composition followed by two reels.

During our chat we drop a few names and many of those have also appeared on the Blarney Pilgrims. To make life a little easier we thought we'd list them here for your clicking pleasure.

Caity's Dad, Jack Brennan (Uilleann pipes, whistle): https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/31
Caity's partner, Angus Barbary (Fiddle): https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/16
Caity's band Austral: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7

Also, as mentioned in the episode, Austral just reached their pozible target which means there'll be an album coming sometime down the road - Watch this space! In the meantime here's a cracking video clip of the band recorded from last year's Lake School of Celtic Music Song and Dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr3Ztlftarg

If the playing during the episode doesn't convince you that Caity and Austral can bring the (MF) ruckus, then check out this instagram clip of them at the Melbourne Vic Night Markets earlier this year. https://instagram.com/p/B5reS3Egvet/

To keep up with Caity and Austral you can follow them here:

Website: https://www.australband.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/australmusic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austral.music/

And most importantly, you can buy Austral's music here (including a craicin' live version of Hoedown Throwdown lifted from the episode we recorded last year: https://australtradmusic.bandcamp.com/

I think that's about it for this week,

Right, go on. Goodluck!
Darren & Dom

...

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

Next Episode

Episode 53: Don Meade Interview (Harmonica)

Irish tunes on the harmonica - seriously awesome. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Eddie Clark, New York's Irish music scene in the '80s; Bill De Blasio's busted progressive cred and The Catskills Irish Arts Week.

Don Meade on Irish tunes on the harmonica, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Eddie Clark, New York's Irish music scene in the '80s, and The Catskills Irish Arts Week.

Seriously amazing music this week with Don.

As always you can listen or download from the usual spots:
Our site: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/53
iTunes: https://apple.co/2MI9ZJf
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3aFuOPa

Don plays the following tunes:

The Haunted House and The Lark on The Strand (Jigs)
The Green Mountain and Rip The Calico (Reels)
The Fiddler's Elbow (Meade)
Brosna Slides
The Waterford Hornpipe

To follow Don go here: facebook.com/don.meade.73
To learn more about the Barney Star and read the articles mentioned in the episode go here: http://www.blarneystar.com/

Love,

Darren and Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast